baltodave

I remember reading somewhere that RC hopes to have the chatting (texting) feature of their app rolled out by the end of 2020. However, that was "BC" (Before COVID). Does anyone know if they are still working on it? In particular, I'd like to know if it will ready for our Vision OTS cruise at the end of January 2021. Thanks!

We bought "The Key" for our 5-night Indy cruise on 8/31. It turns out to be $44 more than 2-device Surf 'n Stream. So for additional $44, we get the following One of the fist on the ship on embarkation day They hold onto our carry-ons. Embarkation day lunch from Chops menu Great seats in Studio B for ice show Nice sit-down breakfast on disembarkation day and ability to cut the line on the way out. The other perks don't interest us that much but for the additional $44, we thought it was a good deal. Of course, none of this matters if you aren't interested in getting Voom internet.

We used to bring them but don't anymore. Since most of the walls are metal, the walkies don't work very well (and can be annoying to others). If you daughter has a smartphone, (and depending on which ship you will be on) , you might be able to take advantage of texting. And if the Royal app on your ship does not support texting, you can consider a Voom package where you'll be able to text over Wifi.

Great information (thanks!) and for our next cruise we might choose Travelx. We've been using Allianz and while they do let you change the dates, they do exclude COVID related illnesses.

So, if the "guarantee" stateroom category is more expensive (or same price) than one where you select the stateroom, what's the advantage?

Sometimes when pricing cruises, there is very little (if any) price difference between having RC selecting the stateroom vs. you selecting the stateroom. In fact, I've seen situations where it's even less expensive for you to select your own stateroom. So, is there any advantage to having RC select the stateroom for you? Thanks all!

Is there a way to get Cruise Planner pricing (e.g. drink packages, dining packages, Voom, etc..) before a cruise is booked?

First, I want to apologize because I have a few questions and thought it would be cleaner to put each one in a seperate post. How does the "Cruise With Confidence" promotion affect refundable vs. non-refundable fares?

Hi All, The cruise planner dining and beverage items are now available for our Jan 25 2021 Vision OTS 11-night cruise and they are very high. Here are some beverage pkg examples (all are before the 18% grat.) : Deluxe Beverage Pkg: $68/day - That's not so abnormal but too high for me Refreshment Pkg: $34/day - I've never seen it that high! Classic Soda Pkg: $13.50/day - Also, never seen that so high! The Voom prices are crazy too! What makes this even crazier is that this 11-night cruise is fairly port intensive (not lots of sea days, relatively). Let's hope the Black Friday sale in November will bring the prices back down to something reasonable.

This has been going a little off of the original topic but... We've had good luck with cruise.com. I guess it all comes down to your agent. We only deal with one particular agent and I always call her directly. If I get her voicemail, I send an email and she responds in a reasonable amount of time. We almost always get extra OBC from them (usually posted at the end of the first day of the cruise) and sometimes get lower prices because they often book a block of staterooms from RC. If you need to call any agent to solve a problem or answer a question, I opt for the call-back option (I hate to wait on hold), and usually get a call-back within an hour.

Does anyone know if there's a lobster night on a 4-night Navigator OTS cruise? I ask because this will be our first "short" cruise. On 7-night cruises, lobster night is usually the 2nd "dress-up" night. Thanks!

Thanks Matt! I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to wait until day 2 of a 4-night sailing (Navigator in June). I'm Emerald which usually gets 15% off. So 3 days (after waiting for day 2) @ 18.99*2 less 15% works out to 96.85. Yesterday, I purchased 4 days @ 25.49 for 2-device. That came to 101.96. For me, the $5 savings is not worth waiting until day 2 (of course, we'd loose connectivity as soon as we leave the Miami area-- probably around 5:00 or so). ... and that assumes the onboard prices and Emerald discount is the same in June. (glad I paid attention in math class in high school!) 😉

Does anyone know what the on-board price for 2-device Voom is (before any C&A discount)?

1. Does anyone know if the on-board price of Voom is still $19.99/day? Is there a break for 2-device? 2. What is the discount for Emerald-level C&A for Voom? I'm asking the above questions to see if it's worth it to wait until day 2 (of a 4-night cruise leaving Miami) to purchase Voom on-board or to get it from the Cruise Planner site ahead of time. On a related note, does the Royal app work on Navigator and is there a chat (e.g. text message to other guests) feature in it? If not, anyone know when that might be available. Thanks everyone!

Rhapsody is a Vision class ship. We sailed her the last week of January and had a wonderful time. We were in an "ocean view" (aka window) stateroom on deck 4. Only issue is that the OV rooms seems a little smaller than the ones on Voyager or Freedom class ships. We had a wonderful waiter and assistant waiter (actually, we loved our assistant waiter). Also, the cruise director and activities manager were wonderful. All-in-all, I'd recommend it and can't think of any major glitches.